gedren_y

The Brothers Brick has one extra image that gives a better look at some details.

The Brothers Brick has more images. The other side and better views.

Who here likes tan castles? The upcoming Harry Potter set has a nice wealth of parts. Here's hoping some of those new parts get wider usage.

Fantasy Era suffered from some ridiculous set designs. Castle 2013 had oversimplified sets, and mildly cartoonish heraldry and fig design. Both seemed to be targeted at younger consumers, though the second was probably the younger target group. Nexo Knights did have a number of good usable fantasy parts and figs. Was it enough to satisfy builders who are into a certain level of realism? No. But it was a Castle theme. Now it is done, and we can hopefully see the return of a Kingdoms level of realism. The kinds parts available now could lead to some more interesting set designs, and maybe some more daring architecture in the fortifications builds. I think I'll do some experimenting in LDD in the meantime, because the newer parts will show up in usable colors somewhere.

I created a few Corrington characters for The Royal Swordsmen's Club in King's Harbour, one of which I established as in the Governor's circle. Sergeant Major Jean-Claude deLeau should be the easiest to make if you want to use him. I put him in the standard red and white uniform, and only used white 'gloves' and epaulets to denote his rank, but he would be wearing something more fancy for this type of scene. The only things that would be important for the character is this head, which shouldn't be hard to find, and white hair. I used a Brickforge piece, but any white hair should do. If it be longer, then he grew it out. If it be shorter, then he's been to a barber.

The second of those sets was actually great for parts. And it is based on a real siege device. I agree about the "scimitar" from those sets. Since some of the LOTR weapons have appeared in non-licensed sets we can hope that they might replace the cartoonish pieces.

Use my idea and you wouldn't be tied down to one heroic saga. Then you can cherry pick the best parts of each saga before moving on.

I came up with something along this vein a while ago.

Lady Cantoni sauntered over to the Corrington lieutenant, squatted in front of him, and positioned herself so that he had a good view of her cleavage. Once she had his undivided attention she gripped his face with her left hand, lifted it so that he would be staring into her eyes, and purred, "Your masters made the mess of Nova Malto worse by their interference, cost us time and effort on building in their lands instead of rebuilding what is ours, and now they beg our help with the pirate threat because they are too busy managing their own unruly citizens." Releasing him as she stood, Valentia turned to say to the Council, "We can meet what threats come our way without their assistance. Nay!" Hammish picked up an ink-filled quill, and tossed it like a dart at the lieutenant. "Nay." Viscount Doblin stood with a grumbled, "Whatever." He left the chambers in search of a roast beef sandwich. (That's two nays and an abstention.)

I'm not saying that the concept isn't popular, just that European children get exposure to the reality of castles and their history at an earlier age than American children. American children, particularly those from western plains states, will have a greater exposure to the reality of the American westward expansion than European children. The romanticized fantasy of castles are what would best appeal in the American market, and the romanticized idea of the Old West is likely why the Western sets did better in Europe. I understand that LEGO has a global market, and makes decisions on things based on more than the American market appeal. LEGO has enough of a history of marketing and set design differences based on region, though, that the varying levels of everyday cultural exposure of the desired consumers is something to consider. My other point was that Disney isn't as ubiquitous in its popular culture exposure as it had been in decades past. The children's entertainment industry is too diverse now that Disney isn't able to provide a country-wide, and especially not global, shared common interest in a castle related media that isn't already being served by Elves and Disney Princesses. (We want minifigs, not minidolls!) You have to look farther afield to find something castle related that can garner broad spectrum appeal. Many of these, though, are aimed at an age range that starts at the high end of LEGO's core age range. This does not help matters when you have to consider LEGO's acceptability standards. This, added to the fact that there is greater direct competition now, makes me think that Castle lines like those in the 80s and 90s would do poorly on shelves alongside other Lego sets. The biggest evidence of this is Castle 2013. LEGO needs to create a Castle theme with a certain level of the fantastical. Hopefully without too much that we Castle AFOLs will have no use for, the chief complaint we've had against Nexo Knights. If it were not for the level of commitment Lego Batman has, I would have suggested a resurrection of the Fright Knights concept, with a much improved set design.

I have read many of your arguments, and from a European perspective some of them do hold water. The American market, from my perspective though, some of those don't really apply. 1) Castles in the European style are not part of most American population centers. Yes, young American children do get exposure to the idea of a castle, but the farther away we get in time and experience the general understanding of what those structures are supposed to look like dissipates. The American educational system doesn't help in this regard, because subjects like history tend to be very locally generalized until the early teens. From my own experience, the only thing close to a castle in my area is the fort at St. Augustine. Because the US is so large, and castle-like structures are so few, that this isn't going to be widespread among the younger Americans. Most of the popular media properties that have been discussed are aimed at teens and above, and that is the age when realism tends to take precedence. That is the age that most of us learn about the reality of castles. It is that kind of realism that most of us AFOLs are clamoring for. 2) Disney isn't the monolithic giant in American children's entertainment it once was. This decline became evident in the 90s with the launch of Nickelodeon. The largest popular historical/fantasy cartoon properties in America for the target demographic Lego Castle is aimed at in the last decade have been DreamWorks properties, namely Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon. Both of these rely on characters that have diverse body types, so any figs based on these would end up like a number of the Toy Story figs. And for live-action, Harry Potter is Warner Brothers. Even LEGO's own animated movies aren't Disney. Some are going to mention Frozen and Tangled, but that target demographic is already being covered with a minidoll line. Most fans of the classic Disney properties that get refreshed over the years are going to favor the minidolls because they look more like the characters than the minifig. Even the Duplo figs for these properties look less like the classic Duplo figs. People mention the Disney castle set, but again that isn't the target demographic. I would hope some of the techniques used could be applied to a Castle theme, but you have to consider LEGO's age range standards when it comes to build complexity. ------------------------------------------------------------------- The point of my above arguments is to say that in America the Lego Castle theme on its own could not sustain the kind of long term shelf space that it did in the 80s and 90s without something that the target demographic can immediately relate to. That is what I meant by 'hook'. Without the 'Big Bang' secondary media support, a more generic Castle theme would need to capitalize on something already existing in popular American media, or as part of the overall experience of children in the target age group. European children are more likely to have experienced real castles in their everyday lives. Elves relies on the trope of a modern character having adventures in a fantasy land, but even there it has media support. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Now that my American-centric argument has been made, I'll move on to other issues. Elves is still popular, and because of this I doubt that a fantasy elements reliant Castle theme will be forthcoming. The greater difference between Elves and Nexo Knights is why the themes could run concurrently. The fact that other toy companies perennially produce generic castle themes is not likely going to be an incentive for LEGO to do the same. In fact the level of competition in the genre (which is far greater than it used to be) means that LEGO is more likely to step outside the norm for its Castle themes, hence Nexo Knights. For these reasons I do not believe that the next Castle theme will hold the appeal AFOLs are looking for. Something so standard, with the parts that we want for building, and the nostalgic nods to the past we crave, is not likely to garner enough appeal to stand out from the competition with the chief target demographic. It needs something more, something different, for a theme to last beyond a single wave.

Yes, but you have to consider that today's children have more forms of entertainment vying for their attention than in the 80s and 90s. Cable television had less children's dedicated programming, and video gaming wasn't as widespread, or interest targeted. Physical manipulative play was a greater norm than it has become in the past two decades.

The point about popular culture penetration is an important one. Think about the kinds of popular media that exist for the general target age range that most Lego sets fall within. A classic style Castle theme just isn't going to have that right now. Without the 'Big Bang' treatment the next Castle theme will need some kind of hook to make the sets relatable to something they know.

I get what you mean. Part of the problem was that the toy concept came first, and the show was developed around that. Because this was a show to sell toys, real character development concerns never seemed to enter into it, so people got away with a lot. I could go into a whole rant about the Prince Adam/He-Man idiocy, but the root of that matter was toy manufacturing concerns. What kinds of actions could these cheap toys be made to do? Then the show developers were to create characters based on that, and they got creative. Toy concerns even affected the live-action movie. But that's Hasbro. This thread is about Lego. Still, I can see someone making a NSFW scene with that fig.

I'm betting there will eventually be a trans part that fits into the arch shape that could be printed, or stickered, to make a stained glass window.

When it comes to what was good and bad about old Castle lines, I don't hold the antipathy that many do towards KK2. I had less of a problem with the colorful figs because I had no problem dismantling them and replacing parts with different colors. The diversity of heraldry was a big plus for me, and the set builds themselves (for the most part) were well thought out. The main castle of the line, being the biggest exception to this, suffered from the same fault of the previous iteration, the raised baseplate as the bulk of the castle. Because of that fault the best thing about the set didn't get the appreciation it deserved. The castle came with pieces that allowed the builder to decide who owned the castle. It does look like the story driven play focus is here to stay for Castle, but if the theme doesn't get the 'Big Bang' treatment, that aspect can be mostly ignored by those who like to create their own stories. The main castles of Kingdoms and Castle 2013 were similar in one aspect that might be the best thing going forward for future Castle lines. The faction colors for the lion faction in both lines were mostly limited to the roofs, flags, shields, and extraneous colored slope details. If you had enough of the same parts in different colors, those castles could have belonged to a number of different factions. Many of those same parts could be used in tent builds similar to those found in the large Kingdoms Joust set. This goes back to another of my ideas that I had put forward earlier in this thread. Castle sets where the structures and siege weaponry are built with neutral enough colors that add-on details determine which faction has what. Add to that a number of faction battle packs similar to the Star Wars sets, with the bricks being mostly tent type builds that can be repurposed as faction indicator parts for the larger structure builds of the line. Brick built boats, and possibly carriages, could work for this as well. I went into a good bit of detail about this idea earlier in the thread. I'll try to find the posts that cover this in better detail.

The point @Faefrost makes is why I think my Fables idea could work. Classic mythology stories wouldn't incur licensing costs, but could be treated similarly to Ninjago in that media and secondary materials could be produced to drive expanded interest in the theme. Existing public domain stories can also reduce some of the overhead in media development. I do not think, however, that you need to reproduce the color-coded team formula to be successful. Just produce enough of a story to maintain a certain level of interest. The concept I have is that the sets would be specific scenes from the overall mythology of a given region and era. Extraneous media to tell the stories more completely would add to the appeal of the sets themselves. To avoid the stagnation of the theme, Fables would move from one set of mythos to another over time. This would keep set types from being too formulaic, which seems to be a common complaint from existing FOLs. Most of the sets would be action vignettes rather than structures, which parallels the kinds of sets produced for a licensed theme. (This is why some think of Ninjago as a licensed theme.) This kind of theme, however, might need the 'Big Bang' treatment to get started. From all appearances the next Castle theme does not seem to be getting that level of commitment from LEGO. If it was going to get that kind of treatment we would have gotten some rumors by now. If we are to get a more historical/fantasy Castle theme in 2019, preproduction and design planning is likely already underway. When a theme gets attendant media production, that is where early concept leaks tend to come from. I remember early rumors about Elves surfaced because of a connection with animation, which began some speculation of it being a licensed theme. I expect the earliest leaks to show up in late fall.

The flower pot looks to have short legs underneath it. The previous image looked like there was just a 1x2 plate attached to the bottom.

On the issue of panels, there have been a couple of recent panel designs that could increase build possibilities. The new corner door frame is one I'd like to see implemented. The corrugated 6x1x5 panel could also be quite useful. I've been messing about with the most recent LDD patch, and may share some concepts I've been working on.

Well, Eslandola does have an island who's name translates to 'pregnant coin'.

Starting with fables from around the ancient world, some rooted in historical fact, some in the realm of gods and monsters. The Labors of Heracles, Jason and the Argonauts, the events at Marathon, the Trojan War, the works of Homer, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and many more. I'm not as conversant with the fables of the Asian peoples, but I think Journey to the West might fall into this category. The Americas have some stories that can be mined without treading on the faiths of existing native peoples. Though the Pacific Islanders' stories tread a fine line, Lego seemed to have no problem with doing sets for the movie Moana. African stories I couldn't even guess at, but some from Ancient Egypt would likely fit as well. The Roman period also have some that are closer to historical fact, but tread the line into fantasy. The British Isles have a wealth of heroes from the Roman period. By the time most of the earlier fodder has been mined, then the medieval period stories get mined. Beowulf, Arthur, Taliesin, Robin Hood, Charlemagne, Robert the Bruce (and the spider), among others. Then come the Enlightenment with some of Shakespeare's works, and the infamous Nostradamus. That and the stories of the age of exploration on up through and into the modern era. Tarzan, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, the early American frontier stories, and the works of Jules Vern.

I still think getting away from medieval Europe for a while would be best. Sets based on the fables of the ancient world would be doable. Most set pricing could be mid-range. Include enough information about the fable to give it some educational value. I can see it having a wide market appeal without tying it to the cost and restrictions of a license.

You wouldn't be the first. Check out my Consort's Duty.

The shortening of Nexo Knights likely means that current interest has waned enough that the cost of the image recognition coding per shield design is not expected to be covered by theme sales. Themes that get the 'Big Bang' treatment require a certain level of return to maintain operating costs, including theme branded secondary products. Ninjago's sustained level of appeal has proven to be an exception, not the rule. If LEGO has been paying any bit of attention to the wealth of ideas offered here, which unlike Ideas are not subject to the sharing of sales profits, there is enough fodder for ten years worth of sets.

A lovely build, per usual. I do have to agree with Drunknok about the white in the windows being a distraction, but would go with a different fix. A bit of cloth for curtains and some bricks a few spaces behind them to act as an interior wall would help with this issue.